


falling

by ThisKwamiNeeds_aNap



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Bittersweet, Canon verse, F/F, Gen, Toxic friendship, complex depictions of a toxic friendship, everyone is bullying mai rip, in which azula is not terrible all of the time, my mutually toxic tyzula friendship agenda, read the notes or you’ll be confused, simultaneous angst and fluff, this whole fic takes place in the past, unhealthy relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:01:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25701751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisKwamiNeeds_aNap/pseuds/ThisKwamiNeeds_aNap
Summary: Ty Lee offers to teach Azula how to walk on her hands.
Relationships: Azula & Mai & Ty Lee, Azula & Ty Lee (Avatar), Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 91





	falling

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place before Zuko was banished, so they're all around 10 or 11 years old
> 
> also i don't think that their friendship was very healthy, even at this point, but that doesn't mean that there weren't little moments like this

"This is stupid,” Azula grumbled, glaring at the trampled patch of grass. Her hands were smudged with mud and chlorophyll; and a few strands of hair had fallen out of her headpiece.

Ty Lee giggled, dropping into a ridiculously sharp backbend and making it look as effortless as possible. The world spun for a second before the upside-down fountain snapped into focus.

“You sound like Mai,” she teased, forcing her voice to stay steady as if she wasn’t twisted in half.

“I do NOT!” Azula furiously brushed her hair back into place, which only made it messier.

Ty Lee felt a surge of... pride? and couldn’t help smiling. She wasn’t quite sure the name of the feeling, but it usually showed up when she managed to break through Azula’s cold facade and get her to yell. 

Ty Lee briefly considered, for the dozenth time, that she shouldn’t react this way, and that something was severely wrong with her, but she pushed the fear aside and quickly forgot about it.

She wasn’t sure if she was just getting lightheaded or if she saw a few sparks flying from Azula’s hands, but Ty Lee wasn’t worried either way. She had seen Azula play with much more fire when her mom wasn’t looking, and Ty Lee had gained a healthy respect for the garden’s flame resistance. (Not that Ty Lee could complain; she was usually on the sidelines, encouraging Azula to show off.)

“Sure, just insult me like I’m not here. It’s fine.” 

Ty Lee jumped, nearly falling over, and tried to act like she had purposely moved to shift her weight onto her elbows. Mai had once again been so quiet that Ty Lee accidentally forgot that she existed. Now, she was a barely visible smudge in the corner of Ty Lee’s vision, her gray robe and dull aura blending into the stone stairs.

“It wasn’t an insult, I was just-”

“I told you, it’s fine,” Mai said, sounding unnervingly sincere.

Ty Lee opened her mouth to argue further, but she had no idea what to say, so she turned her attention back to Azula, who was eyeing the soft grass like she expected it to bite her. She was so distracted, Ty Lee figured she could test her luck.

“Don’t worry Zuzu, you’ll be fine,” Ty Lee said, imitating the sing-song voice that Azula used around her brother. She bit her cheeks to hold back laughter at Azula’s reaction.

The princess was too busy staring at her hands and swallowing nervously to snap back, She just muttered something under her breath about how dumb Zuko was.

Ty Lee gently kicked off of the grass, pushing herself up on her hands and then using her momentum to return to her feet. She spared a glance back at Mai, who was staring at a knife, seemingly indifferent to her friends’ actions. Then, cautiously, she approached Azula.

“Seriously, you’re going to be fine.” 

“I’m not worried,” Azula said, with enough confidence to fool anyone who hadn’t been watching her for the past hour. 

“You shouldn’t be,” Ty Lee nudged Azula’s shoulder with her own and felt a rush of a different familiar emotion that she couldn’t name. Her head spun, but not really in a bad way. It felt like she had just done a few too many cartwheels in a row and lost her balance. “I mean, you’re good at everything. This will be super easy for you.”

Azula leaned back against Ty Lee’s arm and smirked, which didn’t help Ty Lee’s dizziness.

“Yes, you’re right. Of course.”

Before she could stop herself, Ty Lee brushed her hand against Azula’s hair and gently tugged at the surprisingly cold headpiece. Immediately, Azula stepped back, visibly tense

“What are you doing?”

Ty Lee’s heartbeat raced, but she refused to let her smile drop.

“You don’t want this to fall out and get muddy,” she said, rolling her eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world; as if she wasn’t flirting with death.

“Oh, that makes sense,” Azula said quietly, still half distracted. She pulled off her headpiece and placed it in Ty Lee’s hand, and Ty Lee felt that same thrill of pride. She turned to look at Mai, hoping she’d be as shocked and impressed as Ty Lee felt, but instead, Mai just looked twitchy, like she was preparing to run away if things went wrong. That was probably a more reasonable reaction, but it didn’t stop Ty Lee from feeling disappointed.

“Ok, so, you’re just going to plant your hands on the ground, and try to-”

“I know,” Azula interrupted, trying to get her hands onto the ground without ruining her robes. Once she accomplished that, she froze, staying motionless for much too long.

“And then you just have to trust yourself and kick off the ground!” Ty Lee said.

“Yeah, I know,” Azula said. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but Azula’s voice seemed to hold the tiniest note of fear.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you fall.” Ty Lee said.

“I know that,” Azula grumbled, and then she pushed herself into a handstand. Ty Lee felt a stab of jealousy for a second. Azula was unfairly steady for someone who had supposedly never even tried to do a handstand before. Then the second passed, and Azula was wobbling as Ty Lee rushed to catch her.

Unfortunately, Azula wasn’t nearly as comfortable being upside-down as Ty Lee was, so she panicked, kicking Ty Lee in the face and knocking them both down in the process. Ty Lee blindly wrapped her arm around Azula’s leg, trying to pull her back up, but instead, they both tumbled to the ground.

As soon as she caught her breath, Ty Lee started to laugh uncontrollably. 

“That was even better than my first handstand,” she said, propping herself up on one arm, so she could slide Azula’s headpiece back into her hair. True, she had been three years old the first time she’d stood on her hands, but Azula didn’t need to hear that part.

Azula took another moment to catch her breath, and then she was laughing too. It was a rare, genuine laugh, the kind that made Azula's aura flicker as gold as her eyes.

And yeah, maybe Ty Lee should've been more concerned; maybe she shouldn't be so carefree while she was trapped under a firebender with a disturbing affinity for violence. But then Azula was reaching for her hands, pulling her to her feet so they could try again, and it would've been impossible to push away the wave of joy even if she'd wanted to.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! please leave kudos and comment if you enjoyed!  
>   
> Also, yes, the falling is a very intentional extended metaphor :’D


End file.
